Paris Brest – Saddling up for more trials with Choux

I have been wanting to do a Paris Brest for a while. They look gorgeous in Patisseries and I am still not great with choux pastry, so a little practice was definitely on the cards. I am very glad I did. It is delicious, quite surprisingly light and well worth the effort.

This little delight was created in 1910 by Louis Durand to commemorate the Paris-Brest-Paris bike race – all 1200km of it – with the design celebrating the wheels of the bikes. Supposedly it was also very popular with the riders due the energy boost it gave them – an early version of legal doping in the world of bicycle racing.

What makes this equally delicious is the praline creme mousselline that fills it. This artery clogging fluffy deliciousness involves making a praline with almonds and hazelnuts and blitzing it with oil to make a caramelised sweet nutty paste, and then adding that to vanilla creme mousseline. That gives the mousseline a gorgeous caramel back note with the nut flavour adding a subtle extra taste.

The main reason for making this was to practice choux pastry which for some reason I struggle with. Why? Well I guess I am never quite sure whether I am doing it right. The recipe books make it sound easy enough. Cook the dough until it pulls away from the pan? Well it does straight away so that is not much use. Add the eggs until you get a thick gloopy mixture that is stiff enough to hold up when piped? Well I am still not sure I know exactly what is the right consistency. Bake until golden brown? Well given you have to brush it with egg that is about as much use a chocolate teapot when it comes to judging if it is done. Prick the buns to let out the steam ….hmmmmmmm.

A few things I have learned though with choux

stiff is better than sloppy (no double-entendre intended)

use water not milk as this helps create a better rise (the steam is the thing that fluffs them up)

use bread flour as this is stronger and tends to hold in the steam better so you get a better rise

err on the side of over baking them though just right is always best

On this bake I got it about right. They probably needed 3 minutes longer but given I was already 10 minutes over the recipe time I was getting a little panicky. Next time I need to trust my instincts better.

Now as to the other elements my research proved a little frustrating. Many recipes talk about piping the choux circles but don’t give the size of nozzle or the diameter of the circles. I went for 12 cm width circles, but I think 8-10cm would have been better as 12 cm makes for quite a hefty portion.

How you pipe the circles also varies from recipe to recipe. Some involve just a single thick circle, but most of the french websites propose the 3 circle method I have done here. There are also some that involve piping balls of choux in a circle, and then putting a streusel topping on top which melts over the balls. This seems to be a cross over from that other French Choux bake, the Religieuse, and does look mighty delicious.

The fillings vary as well. All use hazelnuts in some way but again it varies. Many use Praline Paste (or Pâte de Praliné), but some just chop up hazelnuts and add them to the cream filling, which in my opinion would lack the intensity of flavour from the praline paste. The recipes seem pretty equally divided between Creme Mousseline (Creme Patissiere with butter beaten into it) and French Buttercream (Creme au Beurre) which is made in a similar way to italian meringue by boiling a sugar and water mixture and then whisking it into a vast amount of egg yolks and adding butter. A small minority go for Creme Diplomate which is lighter than the other 2 and involve folding whipped cream into Creme Patissiere.

The Recipe

Ingredients

The Choux

125g strong white flour

4 medium eggs

225ml water

60g unsalted butter

1/2 tsp salt

Praline Paste

160g caster sugar

125g hazelnuts (no skins)

125g almonds (no skins)

50ml water

2tsp vegetable or nut oil

Praline Creme Mousseline

375ml whole milk

1tsp vanilla extract

3 medium egg yolks

30g cornflour

30g caster sugar

90g unsalted butter (for stage 1)

150g praline paste

135g unsalted butter

For the Decoration

flaked almonds

icing sugar

The Method

Preparation and Equipment

mark up pieces of baking parchment with circles the size you want

2 piping bags

1cm round piping nozzle

1cm closed star piping nozzle

liquidiser or food processor

electric mixer

Choux Pastry

heat the oven to 190C / 170C fan

put the water salt and butter in a pan

bring to the boil

sift the flour into a bowl

take the water off the boil and pour in the flour whisking all the time

cook the flour mixture on a medium heat for 2-3 minutes until glossy and it comes away from the pan

take off the heat and put in a bowl

beat in the first 3 eggs one at a time using a spoon or paddle attachment on a mixer

check the texture to see if the choux is ready

whisk the last egg in a bowl

add 1/2 of the egg and beat in and check the texture again

carry on adding the egg a bit at a time

the mixture is at the right consistency when it drops off the spoon and leaves behind a triangle on the spoon (frankly google this and watch videos on the topic)

put the mixture into a piping bag

pipe one circle on the baking parchment

pipe a circle inside

then pipe a circle on top in between the others

continue until finished – 12 cm makes 5 Paris Brest

whisk an egg

brush the circles with the egg

sprinkle with flaked almonds

bake in the oven for 20 minutes until golden brown

open the oven at 13 and 18 minutes let the steam out

as they come out of the oven prick them in a few places with a skewer

allow to cool on a wire rack

Praline Paste

put a piece of baking parchment on the worktop

spread the nuts on a baking tray

roast for 5 – 8 minutes at 180C (you can do this while making the choux)

add the sugar and water to a thick based large pan

melt on a medium heat until it forms a caramel (never stir with a spoon just jiggle the pan from time to time)

as soon as the sugar is fully melted and caramel coloured, quickly add the nuts stirring fast

quickly tip the mixture onto the baking parchment

allow to cool completely

put the praline in a food processor

blitz until finely ground

continue until a paste forms (this takes a while)

the nuts may release enough oil to form the paste but if they don’t add 1 tsp of oil ( a second if absolutely necessary)

Creme Mousseline

put the milk and vanilla extract in a pan and bring to just boiling

whisk the cornflour, sugar and egg yolks together

add some of the milk and whisk in

pour the egg and milk mixture back in the pan and whisk

bring back to the boil and cook until it starts to plop

add the stage 1 butter

press through a sieve into a bowl

cover with cling film touching the surface and allow to cool

allow the butter to come to room temperature

once the creme patissiere is at room temperature add the diced butter and praline paste to the creme patissiere

whisk until light and fluffy and put back in the fridge until gently firm (not too firm or it will not pipe)

Assembling the Paris Brest

cut the Paris Brest in half – do this carefully with a small knife working your way around)